A Toronto police officer recently advised attendees at an Etobicoke community meeting to put key fobs at their front doors so home invaders who only want to steal their cars won't venture farther into the home. Some posts on social media incorrectly said the officer recommended people leave their keys outside. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Molly Riley
A Toronto police officer recently advised attendees at an Etobicoke community meeting to put key fobs at their front doors so home invaders who only want to steal their cars won't venture farther into the home. Some posts on social media incorrectly said the officer recommended people leave their keys outside. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Molly Riley
At a community meeting in Toronto last month, a police officer recommended that residents leave their key fobs at their front door to avoid a violent confrontation with car thieves. The advice garnered backlash online, and some social media posts claimed authorities were now encouraging people to place their fobs on the porch. This is false. Police never suggested that residents should leave their keys outside their doors. One of the posts that drew the most eyeballs also claimed police in Canada said footage of "home invaders" recorded on owners’ property violates criminals’ privacy rights. This is misleading. A Quebec police officer said in January that posting — as opposed to simply recording — the video online could breach privacy rules. Additionally, the lieutenant spoke only for that jurisdiction, rather than a Canada-wide one.
on X, formerly known as Twitter, claimed police urged Torontonians to put their key fobs on their porches or outside their doors for auto thieves to take. Two tweets alone garnered more than 390,000 views, as of publication. One claimed police instructed residents to “leave your Key Fob on the front porch so criminals don't have to break into your home to steal your car!†Another claimed police said people should “leave our car keys outside our doors so thieves don’t have to go to the trouble of breaking down your door.â€
That second post also claimed that police warned residents not to record people taking objects from their property in acts of so-called porch piracy. The that contained the false key fob claim stated on X that “police in Canada have told us that … CCTV footage ON YOUR PROPERTY violates the privacy rights of home invaders.†poster in January sought to paraphrase authorities: “Montreal police: don't take videos of thieves committing a federal offense.â€
Rating: False/Misleading
The claim that police recommended putting key fobs on the porch is false. In the referred to in various posts, Toronto police Const. Marco Ricciardi advises attendees at a community meeting in Toronto’s Etobicoke neighbourhood in February to put key fobs at their front door, but not beyond it: “To prevent the possibility of being attacked in your home, leave your fobs at your front door — because they’re breaking into your home to steal your car. They don’t want anything else.â€
One news report said he recommended placing the keys in a Faraday pouch, an aluminum-lined bag that blocks the fob’s signal, to stymie auto thieves.
On March 13, the Toronto Police service posted a link to a to prevent home invasion in connection with auto theft. It also that an officer had recently suggested drivers leave their car keys in a Faraday bag by the front door. “While well meaning, there are better ways to prevent auto theft motivated home invasions,†the post stated. The list of tips makes no mention of key fobs.
The officer’s initial advice on key fobs does seem to contradict tips from other agencies. The Peel Police Service, for example, said in a March 14 that “keeping key fobs away from doorways and entrances†would make it harder to steal vehicles.
Thieves often deploy equipment that captures the signal from a fob and amplifies it to unlock a vehicle, a process that may be stymied if the signal is farther away — in the back of the house, for example.
Posting about porch piracy
The claim that police warned against recording thieves on your property is misleading.
In a video call with CTV News in January, Quebec provincial police spokesman Lt. Benoit Richard : “You cannot post the images yourself because you have to remember that in Canada we have a presumption of innocence and posting that picture could be a violation of private life.â€
The social media posts in question suggested that merely recording the video rather than posting it online was the issue. Further, one of the post's mention of "home invaders" is inaccurate, because the officer was discussing thefts from outside a residence, whereas home invasion refers to burglary via unlawful entrance into a residence — the building itself. (One of the two posts also incorrectly said the officer was with the Montreal police force rather than the Quebec provincial police.)
Whether the officer’s own claim is accurate is another question.
Asked if Quebecers have the right to record and post footage from their own home — including footage of people taking something from their property — the police service told °µÍø½ûÇø: “Since your question is regarding a possible interpretation on a part of the Quebec civil code, we have to refer you to a civil law lawyer.â€
David Fraser, an internet and privacy lawyer with McInnes Cooper, said the officer’s suggestion of privacy breaches or defamation is basically groundless.
“The officer in that case is categorically incorrect and, I assume, ill-informed,†Fraser said in a phone interview.
“As an individual, you have an unrestricted right to record anything on your property, subject to criminal laws related to voyeurism and things like that that are certainly not applicable on your porch — and particularly not applicable with respect to uninvited visitors on your porch.â€
Aside from using that footage for commercial purposes, such as an advertisement, few if any restrictions on public posting apply, Fraser said.
Even defamation is a dubious concern in this case, he continued.
“As long as the video has not been altered in order to create a false impression, defamation law really doesn't come into play.â€
Libel and slander revolve around harming someone’s reputation.
“And certainly if you're a porch pirate and somebody calls you a porch pirate, that's going to harm your reputation. But truth is an absolute defence to defamation.â€
However, there may be some exceptions if written or verbal accusations that accompany a video post stem from misunderstandings or incorrect claims.
“I had a package that was accidentally delivered to my neighbour … So I went over to my neighbour's house and I retrieved my package,†Fraser said. â€Now, if my neighbour had a camera on her porch and was expecting a package that day that wasn't delivered and had posted, ‘Oh my God, does anybody recognize this guy? He stole a package from my porch?’ That might cross into defamation, maybe. But that's a total edge case,†he said.
Sources
Claims about police advice on key fobs can be found on X (, ) and ()
Claims about porch pirate footage can be found on X () and ()
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